Film clip



June 17, 1952 R. J. EYRE FILM CLIP Filed oct. 12, 1950 Patented June 17,1, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FILM CLE Reginald John Eyre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Application October 12, 1950, Serial No. 189,859

6 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a clip for fixing the free end of a reel of movie film to a reel upon which it is wound.

Clips for holding the free end of a movie film on a reel from unwinding have been devised in the past, but with them it has always, to my i knowledge, been necessary to thread the free end of the film to be retained through a slot or the like on the clip. This threading procedure is awkward because it must, in many cases, be performed in a darkened room. I have developed a clip that is very much more convenient to use than the proposals of the prior art.

It is then an object of this invention to provide a clip for fixing the free end of a movie film to a reel that can be quickly and conveniently applied in a darkened room.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a clip having the foregoing characteristics that is cheap to manufacture.

With these and other objects in view, my clip has a body with a substantially flat top, and side arms that depend downwardly from opposed side edges of said top to form, in combination with said top, a substantially U- shaped cross-section. The side arms are of course resilient and spaced apart to clip over the marginal areas of opposite sides of the film reel. To retain the free end of a movie film, I provide a lug on the top which projects from the upper side therof adjacent a side edge thereof. The longitudinal axis of the lug is in parallel relation with the longitudinal axis of the top and is inclined to the top surface of the top to enter into a sprocket of the film and retain the free end thereof. The invention will be clearly understood after reference to the following detailed specification read in conjunction with the drawings.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a .perspective view of a clip according to my invention.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view of a movie film reel with the free end of the film being held by the clip.

Figure 3 is a view along the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Referring to the drawings, the latter "A generally indicates a clip according to my invention. The clip has a substantially flat top HI and side arms II and |2 that depend downwardly from opposed side edges of the top to form, in combination with the top IO, a substantially U-shaped cross section. The side arms l and |2 are of course resilient and spaced apart to clip over the marginal edges of opposed sides of a movie film reel |3, as illustrated in Figures 2 and 3.

The clip can be made from any suitable material, such as sheet metal or plastic and resiliency may be imparted to the side arms ll and |2 by curving them as at la and |21a.

The free ends of the arms ll and K2 are preferably flared as at Il and |5 respectively to facilitate clipping of the clip over the movie film reel |3.

' The free end of the movie film 15 is, according to the invention-,secured to the top IO of the clip by means of lugs l'l and |8 which co-act with the side sprockets thereof as illustrated at [9 and 20 respectively.

In the embodiment of the invention shown, the clip is formed from sheet metal and lugs I'l and |8 are formed by stamping fingers therefrom and turning them upwardly. The lugs, of course, are aligned with each other and in parallel relation to the longitudinal axis of the top. They must further be located adjacent one of the side edges of the top to co-act with the sprockets of the film |6 which are always adjacent a side edge thereof.

In the embodiment of the invention shown, I have shown two lugs l1 and IS adjacent one side edge. The clip of course can be made with only one lug. Further, in the case of film having sprockets on both of its side edges, lugs could be provided adjacent each side edge of the top |0 to co-act with the sprockets on each side of the film.

The top l is preferably formed with a troughlike depression extending longitudinally thereof, the side walls 2| and 22 thereof being spaced apart to accommodate a width of film 1G.

I also preferably provide my clip with a spacer strip 23 which extends at a downward incline from one end of the top IO. This spacer 23 enters between the side walls of the film reel as illustrated in Figure 8 to hold them apart when the film does not fill the entire reel. This assures that the resilient arms H and |2 will grip the side walls of the reel firmly.

Embodiments of my invention other than the one shown will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and I do not intend that the foregoing drawings and description should be read in a limiting sense.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A clip for fixing the free end of a roll of film to a reel upon which it is wound, comprising a substantially flat top, side arms depending downwardly from opposed side edges of said top to form, in combination with said top, a substantially U-shaped cross-section, said side arms being resilient and spaced apart to clip over the marginal areas of opposed sides of said film reel, a lug carried by said top and projecting from the upper side thereof and ad- J'acent a side edge thereof, said lug having its longitudinal axis aligned with the longitudinal axis of said top and being inclined to the top surface thereof to co-act with the sprockets of a film and retain the free end thereof when the side arms are clipped over the reel.

2. A clip as claimed in claim l in which said top is formed with a longitudinally extending trough-like depression to accommodate a width of film.

3. A clip as claimed in claim 1 having a spacer strip extending at a downward incline from one end of said top, said spacer strip having a width to enter between opposed edges of said reel.

4. A clip for fixing the free end of a roll of film to a reel upon which it is wound, comprising a substantially flat top, side arms depending downwardly from opposed side edges of said top to form, in combination with said top, a substantially U-shaped cross-section, said side arms being resilient and spaced apart to clip over the marginal areas of opposed sides of said film reel, lugs carried by said top and projecting from the upper side thereof and adjacent a side edge thereof, said lugs being arranged with their ,4. longitudinal axis in alignment with each other and spaced apart to co-act with aligned sprockets 5. A clip for fixing the free end of a roll of film to a reel upon which it is wound, comprising a substantially flat top, side arms depending downwardly from opposed side edges of said top to form, in combination with said top, a substantially U-shaped cross-section, said side arms being resilient and spaced apart to clip over the marginal areas of opposed sides of said film reel, lugs carried by the said top and projecting from the upper side thereof and adjacent the side edges thereof to co-act with sprockets of a film, said lugs further being disposed adjacent each side edge of said top.

6. A clip as claimed in claim 5 in which said lugs are arranged in rows, said rows being aligned with the longitudinal axis of said top and successive lugs in said rows being spaced apart to co-act with sprockets of a film.

REGINALD JOHN EYRE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,204,043 McDonough Nov. 7, 1916 l,672,214 Hayden June 5, 1928 2,128,710 MacDonald Aug. 30, 1938 2,528,668 Schenkel Nov. 7, 1950 

